In this and the two following Chapter s the textual criticism rises to higher importance; the precise words spoken by our Lord being in question. CHS. 5–7. SERMON ON THE MOUNT It is instructive to find the Sermon on the Mount following close upon the works of mercy which would open men’s hearts to... [ Continue Reading ]
The transposition of Matthew 5:4-5 to their order in the text is on the authority of the leading textual critics without however conclusive MS. support. The logical gradation of thought is in favour of the change. Of the ‘Beatitudes’—so called from the opening word ‘beati’ in the Vulgate—the first s... [ Continue Reading ]
4, 5. These verses are transposed by the leading critics following Origen, Eusebius and other fathers, but not on the very highest MS. authority, viz. D. 33 and some versions. On the effect of this change see notes.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΑΙΌΤΗΣ, as an ethical term, is concerned with anger, it means absence from resentment, meekness in suffering; it is mentioned with very faint praise by Aristotle who says, ἐπὶ τὸν μέσον τὴν πρᾳότητα φέρομεν πρὸς τὴν ἔλλειψιν�, and again, εἴπερ δὴ ἡ πρᾳότης ἐπαινεῖται, _Eth. Nic._ IV. 5. 1–3. In th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΠΕΝΘΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ. Those who mourn for sin are primarily intended, but the secondary meaning of ‘all who are sorrowful’ is not excluded. Sorrow is in itself neutral, cp. 2 Corinthians 7:9, νῦν χαίρω οὐχ ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε�ʼ ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε εἰς μετάνοιαν. ΠΑΡΑΚΛΗΘΉΣΟΝΤΑΙ. The supreme παράκλησις is Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΤΟΊ, they in their turn. ΧΟΡΤΑΣΘΉΣΟΝΤΑΙ. χορτάζειν is one of those words strong and even coarse in their origin which came to be used by the Jews at Alexandria with a softened and more refined meaning. It is properly used of cattle ‘to feed,’ βοσκημάτων δίκην … βόσκονται χορταζόμενοι, Plato, _Re... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΛΕΉΜΟΝΕΣ. With the Stoics ἔλεος was reckoned among the defects or vices, it was a disturbing element that broke in upon the philosophic calm, cp. the following passage which gives the Stoic view of most of the moral ideas of the Beatitudes: ὁ�, ἔστω δοῦλος, λυπείσθω, φθονείτω, ἐλεείτω· τὸ κεφάλαιον... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΘΑΡΟῚ ΤΗ͂Ι ΚΑΡΔΊΑΙ. Purity is a distinguishing virtue of Christianity. It finds no place even in the teaching of Socrates, or in the system of Aristotle. Pure _in heart_ ‘non sufficit puritas ceremonialis,’ Bengel. ΤῸΝ ΘΕῸΝ ὌΨΟΝΤΑΙ. The Christian education is a gradual unveiling of God (ἀποκάλυψι... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΡΗΝΟΠΟΙΟΊ, this is the highest energy of the perfected soul that has seen God, has had the deepest insight into the divine nature and is thereby moved to do a divine work. εἰρήνη in its lower sense is the absence of dissension or difference between men, in a higher sense it is reconciliation of ma... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΔΕΔΙΩΓΜΈΝΟΙ. ‘Those who have been persecuted,’ not as in A.V. ‘they which are persecuted’. The tense brings the past action into close relation with the present, and implies either (1) generally Blessed are the prophets and other servants of God, who in all past time have been persecuted, i.e. th... [ Continue Reading ]
The nature of the persecution is indicated in this verse; not torture, imprisonment, and death, but reproach and calumny, precisely the form of persecution to which the disciples must have been now subjected.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΓΑΛΛΙΑ͂ΣΘΕ, of excessive and demonstrative joy. Neither the verb nor its derivatives are classical. St Luke in his parallel passage (Matthew 6:23), has χάρητε ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ σκιρτήσατε. Such contrasts as this which the kingdom of heaven presents have their counterpart in the εἰρωνεία of Gr... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ἍΛΑΣ ΤΗ͂Σ ΓΗ͂Σ. Salt (1) preserves from corruption; (2) gives taste to all that is insipid; (3) is essential to all organised life. So the Apostles alone can save the world from corruption; the gospel alone can give zest and meaning to society; it is essential to the life of the world. ἍΛΑΣ. Lat... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ΦΩ͂Σ ΤΟΥ͂ ΚΌΣΜΟΥ. See John 8:12, where Jesus says of Himself ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου. Cp. Philippians 2:15, φαίνεσθε ὡς φωστῆρες ἐν κόσμῳ. ΤΟΥ͂ ΚΌΣΜΟΥ, i.e. of the whole world, not of Israel only; or of the dark and evil world. κόσμος has an interesting history: (1) ‘order,’ ‘propriety’ (Homer... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸΝ ΜΌΔΙΟΝ. ‘The bushel,’ i.e. the common measure found in every Jewish house. The article generalises. Strictly speaking, the _modius_ denoted a smaller measure equal to about two gallons. ΛΎΧΝΟΣ … ΛΥΧΝΊΑ. ‘Lamp,’ ‘lampstand.’ The lamp in a Jewish house was not set on a table, but on a tall pedest... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ἮΛΘΟΝ ΚΑΤΑΛΥ͂ΣΑΙ Κ.Τ.Λ. ‘I came not to destroy’, a divine _captatio_ which would instantly soothe the possible fear that Christ was a καταλυτὴς τοῦ νόμου. For the word cp. Polyb. III. 2, καταλύσαντα τοὺς νόμους εἰς μοναρχίαν περιστῆσαι τὸ πολίτευμα τῶν Καρχηδονίων.... [ Continue Reading ]
The poetical form traceable throughout the Sermon on the Mount is especially observable here. οὐ καταλῦσαι and πληρῶσαι are the key-words. The γὰρ in _v._18 (ἀμὴν γάρ) introduces an explanation of οὐ καταλῦσαι: the second γὰρ in _v._20 (λέγω γάρ) carries out the thought of πληρῶσαι. Then note to wha... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΜΉΝ. Strictly a verbal adjective, ‘firm,’ ‘true,’ from Hebr. _aman_ to ‘support,’ ‘confirm’; thus used, Revelation 3:14, ὁ�. (2) An adverb of affirmation preceding or concluding a statement or prayer. The familiar use of the word in the Christian liturgy is derived from the service of the synagogue... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΎΣΗΙ … ΔΙΔΆΞΗΙ. Recall in this connection St Paul’s attitude in relation to the law. διδάσκειν points to the Presbyter or Teacher, λύσῃ, a more general term, to the people. ΠΟΙΉΣΗΙ ΚΑῚ ΔΙΔΆΞΗΙ. Again addressed to the Apostles as teachers. The union of doing and teaching is essential. It was the gr... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗ, ‘observance of the law.’ Unless ye observe the law with greater exactness than the Pharisees, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisaic δικαιοσύνη consisted in extended and minute external observances, Christ’s περίσσευμα in reaching the spiritual meaning of the law. (_a_)... [ Continue Reading ]
ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ, ‘ye heard,’ a use of the Greek aorist to express frequentative action where in English it would be natural to use the present tense; ‘ye hear’ daily in the Synagogue the law as it was delivered to them of old time. See note ch. Matthew 11:27. ΤΟΙ͂Σ�, ‘to them of old time.’ This rendering... [ Continue Reading ]
The insertion of εἰκῆ after αὐτοῦ dates from very ancient MSS., but א and B omit, also Vulgate and Æth. Verss. and Origen twice. The feeling which prompted its insertion as a marginal note would tend to retain it in the text. 22. ἜΝΟΧΟΣ, lit. ‘held fast by,’ (ἐνέχω) so ‘liable to’ with dative. It is... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓͂Ν. In consequence of this truth that anger makes you liable to the extremity of punishment. ΠΡΟΣΦΈΡΗΙΣ ΤῸ ΔΩ͂ΡΟΝ, ‘make thy offering.’ Cp. Leviticus 2:1, ἐὰν δὲ ψυχὴ προσφέρῃ δῶρον θυσίαν τῷ κυρίῳ, where the Hebrew words are _korban minchah;_ for _korban_ see note ch. Matthew 17:6. _Minchah_ lit... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΜΠΡΟΣΘΕΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤΗΡΊΟΥ. Stay the sacrifice, though begun, for God will not accept it unless the heart be free from anger, and the conscience from offence. It is an application of the great principle summed up in ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice.’ Cp. also Psalms 26:6, ‘I will wash my hands... [ Continue Reading ]
25, 26. The illustration is drawn from a legal process. It would be wise for the debtor to arrange with the creditor while he is on the way to the Court; otherwise the judge’s sentence and a hopeless imprisonment await him. Sin is the debt (here especially anger the source of murder), the sense of... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΟΔΡΆΝΤΗΝ. Cp. Mark 12:42, λεπτὰ δύο ὅ ἐστιν κοδράντης. κοδράντης = Lat. _quadrans_, the fourth part of an _as_, and the smallest Roman coin. τὸ λεπτὸν in the parallel passage in Luke is the _prutah_ or smallest Jewish coin. For this view of sin as a debt cp. ὀφειλήματα in the Lord’s Prayer, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
(β) Adultery, 27–32... [ Continue Reading ]
The reading of τοῖς� after ἐρρέθη is due to the tendency to introduce uniformity of structure; other instances of the same kind in this chapter are ὅς ἂν� for πᾶς ὁ�. Matthew 5:32, βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν for ἀπέλθῃ εἰς γέενναν Matthew 5:31, to agree with previous verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
In αὐτῆς read for αὐτὴν we trace the probably unconscious emendation of a scholar. 28. ΠΡῸΣ ΤῸ ἘΠΙΘΥΜΗ͂ΣΑΙ, i.e. ‘with a view to lust after her.’ ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΚΑΡΔΊΑΙ. Contrast with the pure _in heart,_ Matthew 5:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ὈΦΘΑΛΜΌΣ ΣΟΥ, suggested by the preceding verse. The eye and the hand are not only in themselves good and serviceable, but _necessary_. Still they may become the occasion of sin to us. So pursuits and pleasures innocent in themselves may bring temptation, and involve us in sin. These must be resign... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠΟΣΤΆΣΙΟΝ. See note on ch. Matthew 1:19. The greatest abuses had arisen in regard to divorce, which was permitted on very trivial grounds. One Rabbinical saying was ‘If any man hate his wife, let him put her away.’ Copies of these bills of divorce are still preserved. The formula may be seen in Lig... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΟΙΧΕΥΘΗ͂ΝΑΙ for μοιχᾶσθαι. The change to the passive is supported by א B D and approves itself as the truer to fact, but perhaps for that very reason is open to some suspicion. 32. ΠΑΡΕΚΤΌΣ. A rare word in N.T. and condemned by the Atticists. See Sturz, _Dial. Mac._ 210. ΛΌΓΟΥ ΠΟΡΝΕΊΑΣ. A Hebrais... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ἘΠΙΟΡΚΉΣΕΙΣ. The special reference may be to the third commandment. Cp. also Leviticus 19:12, ‘Ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God.’ In the kingdom of God no external act or profession as distinct from the thought of the heart can find a place.... [ Continue Reading ]
(γ) Oaths, 33–37... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ ὈΜΌΣΑΙ ὍΛΩΣ. The prohibition must be understood of rash and careless oaths in conversation, not of solemn asseveration in Courts of Justice. ὍΤΙ ΘΡΌΝΟΣ ἘΣΤῚΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΕΟΥ͂. Such was the prevalent hypocrisy that the Jews of the day thought that they escaped the sin of perjury if in their oaths they... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ. The change from ἐν τῇ γῇ to εἰς Ἱερ. is to be explained by the etymological identity of εἰς (ἐνς) and ἐν. εἰς is used in late Greek where there is no idea of motion, as ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, John 1:18 … where ἐν would be required in Classical Greek; other instances are ἀποθανεῖν εἰς Ἱ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΚΕΦΆΛΗΙ ΣΟΥ. A common form of oath in the ancient world: cp. ‘Per caput hoc juro per quod pater ante solebat.’ Verg. _Æn._ IX. 300.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚ ΤΟΥ͂ ΠΟΝΗΡΟΥ͂. (1) ‘of evil’, (2) or perhaps better ‘from the evil one.’... [ Continue Reading ]
ὈΦΘΑΛΜῸΝ�. See Exodus 21:24. The Scribes drew a false inference from the letter of the law. As a legal remedy the _lex talionis_ was probably the best possible in a rude state of society. The principle was admitted in all ancient nations. But the retribution was exacted by a judicial sentence for th... [ Continue Reading ]
(_b_) The law of retaliation, 38–42... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ�, i.e. do not seek to retaliate evil. ῬΑΠΊΖΕΙ. See ch. Matthew 26:67. ΣΤΡΈΨΟΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ι ΚΑῚ ΤῊΝ ἌΛΛΗΝ. To be understood with the limitation imposed on the words by our Lord’s personal example, John 18:22-23. The gradation of the examples given is from the greater to the less provocation.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΡΙΘΗ͂ΝΑΙ. In Attic κρίνειν = ‘to bring to trial.’ For the construction of κρίνομαι with dat. cp. Eur. _Med._ 609, ὡς οὐ κρινοῦμαι τῶνδε σοὶ τὰ πλείονα. ΧΙΤΩ͂ΝΑ, ‘tunic,’ the under-garment. It had sleeves, and reached below the knees, somewhat like a modern shirt. ἱμάτιον, the upper garment. A larg... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΓΓΑΡΕΎΕΙΝ, from a Persian word which is probably a corruption of _hakkáreh_, ‘an express messenger’ (see Rawlinson, Herod. VIII. 98, note 1), signifies ‘to press into service as a courier’ for the royal post, then, generally, ‘to force to be a guide,’ ‘to requisition,’ men or cattle. This was one o... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸΝ ΘΈΛΟΝΤΑ�. St Luke has, δανείζετε μηδὲν� (Luke 6:35). Forced loans have been a mode of oppression in every age, from which, perhaps, no people have suffered more than the Jews.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΓΑΠΉΣΕΙΣ ΤῸΝ ΠΛΗΣΊΟΝ ΣΟΥ. Leviticus 19:18, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ The second clause does not occur in Levit., but was a Rabbinical inference. ἐχθρούς, all who are outside the chosen race, the etymological force of the word. Heathen writers bear testimony to this unsocial charac... [ Continue Reading ]
Here we miss the beautiful words undoubtedly spoken by Christ but omitted in this passage by א B and many of the fathers and versions, εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς καταρωμένους ὑμᾶς καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοὺς μισοῦντας ὑμᾶς. After προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν the receptus has ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς καί, the evidence is especially wei... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΠΩΣ ΓΈΝΗΣΘΕ Κ.Τ.Λ. See note on Matthew 5:9. To act thus would be to act like God, who blesses those who curse Him and are his enemies, by the gifts of sun and rain. This is divine. Mere return of love for love is a human, even a heathen virtue. Shakespeare beautifully and most appropriately reprod... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΤΕΛΩ͂ΝΑΙ, tax-gatherers; not collectors of a regular tax fixed by government, as with us, but men who farmed or contracted for the _publicum_ (state revenue), hence called Publicani. At Rome the equestrian order enjoyed almost exclusively the lucrative privilege of farming the state revenues. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΘΝΙΚΟῚ for τελῶναι of the _textus receptus_, on the highest authority. 47. ΤΟΥ̓Σ�. See Matthew 5:43. The Hebrew salutation was _Shalom_ (peace).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΣΕΣΘΕ ΤΈΛΕΙΟΙ. Lit. ‘ye shall be perfect.’ Either (1) in reference to a future state, ‘if ye have this true love or charity ye shall be perfect hereafter’; or (2) the future has an imperative force, and τέλειοι is limited by the preceding words = perfect in respect of love, i.e. ‘love your enemies... [ Continue Reading ]